Esoterica
by EternallyAnna
Summary: Old friends gather, older mysteries arise. A quest for answers reveals something much darker than expected...


Autumn once again overtook the southern cities of the Unova region, causing the giant deciduous trees to haphazardly shed their multicolored foliage over the area. The sight was widely acclaimed to be one of the most beautiful in the region, but residents could never help thinking of it as a complete nuisance. The fallen leaves requited constant gathering for at least two months; the abundance of trees meant that neglecting to clean up after them would result in squelchy piles of rotting plant life, grass and small plants dying from lack of sun and air, and clogged sewer drains leading to flooded streets and sidewalks.

Aurea Juniper particularly despised the season. She loved her laboratory, she really did, but autumn often made her wonder if it was worth it. The property was extensive and- of course- overridden by trees. Not having the funds to employ a caretaker meant that she or one of her two assistants were constantly raking and bagging leaves to avoid a hefty fine from the city, only getting a break when someone could coerce one of the local schoolkids to do the job for five dollars and a snack.

She sighed and flicked her sweat-saturated golden hair out of her face. It had fallen from its usual twisted ponytail some time ago but at this point she didn't even care. All she wanted was to put this stupid rake away, go home to her air-conditioned apartment and take a nice, relaxing bath.

_Almost finished, Aurea_, she told herself. _Just have to bag this pile and-_

Her thoughts were interrupted by an insistent beeping. The rake fell from her sore hands as she fumbled for her phone, tucked away in a pocket of her teal windbreaker. Finally grasping the device, she flicked it open and held it to her ear. "Hello, Aurea Juniper speaking."

"Shewastryingtogohelpand shesuddenlyfelland Idon't'tknowwhywhatdoIdoAureahelpme!" The voice on the other end of the line was frantic, familiar, and unintelligible.

"Chili? What's wrong? What happened?" Aurea could hear friend's panic and felt it beginning to affect her.

"I don't know! It's Makomo she fell and she won't wake up what do I do I mean-"

Oh. Trust Chili to panic over something small."Chili."

"-I can't just leave her but I have customers and Cress-"

"Chili..."

"-isn't here and I don't know what's wrong and-"

"Chili!"

The last shout stopped the boy from talking, though not from nearly hyperventilating. "Listen to me, Chili. You know Makomo. What does she regularly do?"

"...I don't know!"

Aurea sighed. "You've known her for how many years, now? _Think._ What does she do, every night?"

"...She stays up all night working..."

"Right. She hardly ever sleeps, so it's no wonder she occasionally passes out from exhaustion. Did she hit her head on anything?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay. Then put her on the couch in the staff room and go back to work. I'll come pick her up."

Chili let out a long, slow breath that came through the phone in a rush of static. "Thank you, Aurea."

"No problem. See you in half an hour."

She flipped the phone shut and paused. She had forgotten about the monstrous pile of leaves waiting to be packed up into about four bags. Taking care of them would be a long, arduous task and she really couldn't afford to waste any time; Makomo was in need of help and Chili was likely still worrying. Aurea tossed the hated rake next to the pile, following it up with a roll of trash bags produced from her pocket. She'd call one of the neighbor kids on the way out of town and get them to finish the job.

Turning her back on the afternoon's work, the rational part of her couldn't help but notice the blatant lies she was telling herself.

__twenty-five minutes__

The young woman drove into Striaton City twenty-five minutes later, as promised. The sweat coating her body had dried, leaving Aurea feeling fairly disgusting and wishing she had taken a quick shower. Parking the open-topped car near the service entrance to the creatively named Striaton Café, she attempted to fix her now windswept hair and decided it wasn't worth it; both Makomo and Chili had seen her looking worse.

She swung her long legs out of the car and walked up to the doors just as Chili opened them. "Hi Aurea!" he greeted her, tossing a trash bag into the dumpster.

His tone was cheerful, but Aurea could clearly see stress and fatigue etched onto his face. He stumbled as he moved aside for her and she could see bags under his eyes. Even his hair, usually sticking up in all directions, seemed to droop with exhaustion. "Hi. Where's Cress?"

"He went with Tia to get specialty foods from Driftveil's market," the boy explained, dragging the door shut after her. "They'll be up there for another six days. And Max requested yesterday and today and tomorrow off months ago, I wasn't gonna make him stay. He never _ever_ asks for time off."

"So you've been doing this all by yourself? For _two days_?" Aurea asked incredulously, stopping in her tracks.

"No, no, Makomo came to help today. But she fainted earlier." As if she didn't know.

"Chili, _you_ look like you're about to faint! How much sleep did you get last night?"

His red eyes glazed over as he tried to recall. "I think I went to sleep at two in the morning after I got everything cleaned up, and then I had to get up to meet the delivery truck at five. Then I had to put the deliveries away and go get myself and everything ready for opening at nine." He blinked. "So... three hours?"

Aurea fumed. "I tell you time and time again to take better care of yourself, and what do you do? This! No wonder you look dead on your feet! Jeez, have some common sense!"

Chili winced and tried to stifle a yawn at the same time. "Wh- why are you mad?"

"You could have called me! You could have called any of the teenagers around here to come in for a day! I bet you didn't even call Makomo, did you? She just wandered in for breakfast like she does and offered to help! But no, you didn't ask anyone. You just damn near worked yourself to death!"

"Sorry."

She sighed. "Go back to work, Chili. I'll take Makomo home."

"Okay."

He walked unsteadily back toward the kitchen, bouncing off a wall and almost missing the turn in the hallway. Aurea shook her head and pushed open the door to the staff room. He thought he could take on anything, that boy. Only when everything spun out of control did he panic and look for help. Now that she though about it, Makomo's fainting spell was likely the last straw on the Numel's back, the final thing that caused him to panic. If the redhead had been in any condition to think properly, he wouldn't have called her at all. _Perhaps_, she thought, kneeling next to her best friend and checking her head for abnormal bumps, _his call wasn't even about her. Maybe it was really about him needing help, any amount of help. He doesn't really think straight when he panics. _She chuckled aloud to herself. _Scratch that, he never thinks straight._

She patted Makomo's cheeks gently, receiving nothing but a snore for her efforts. "Mako, wake up."

No reaction.

It had been nagging at the back of her mind since she entered the room, but now Aurea realized what her friend was wearing. It was a waitress uniform, probably one of Tia's spares. The woman stood, blue-green eyes focusing on the wardrobe of the sparsely furnished room. In it, she knew, was a uniform that would fit her. She often worked holidays at the café, since the restaurant's tiny staff couldn't handle the rush, so she had requested one be made to her size.

She had been on her feet all day doing heavy-duty yardwork. Her hands were blistering, her back was aching, and she didn't even want to _think _about her feet. She desperately needed a shower and a change of clothes.

However...

Chili needed help. Makomo was fine and Aurea didn't have any important work to put on hold. If she left Chili alone much longer, he and Pansear would probably manage to burn the place down. What a thing that would be for Cress to come home to, a dead brother and ruined business.

And she really did need a shower and a change of clothes.

__ten minutes__

Ten minutes, a borrow of the triplets' shower and a clothing swap later, Aurea was ready to turn a godawful disaster back into a reputed restaurant.

* * *

><p>Notes:<p>

- I don't own Pokémon.

- Makomo's full name is Makomo Fennel. They do not give her an English first name, so.. you know. Do what you can with what you have.

- I adore MoltenGoldShipping. I created it to make a joke in _New Year's Kiss_ and it ended up with a few fans. Then I went and named it, so... it's my baby, I guess. :3 If you don't know what it is, then... oh just go with the flow. Or look it up.


End file.
